A variety of products that are customarily stored in small containers consist of cohesive particles or viscous fluids which resist dispensing from the container. Condiments such as salt, pepper and catsup are well known examples and a number of non-comestibles, such as cleansing powders and thick liquid detergents among others, have similar characteristics.
Vigorous shaking of the inverted container is the customary procedure for dislodging clogged contents but is not always effective or at least fully effective. One must then resort to striking the container with ones hand or some other object or to impacting the base of the container against a table or other surface.
Depending on the degree of clogging, such procedures can be an inconvenience and in some cases may be jarring and distracting both to the person attempting to dispense a substance from the container and to others as well. In some instances such operations can damage or break the container. Thus it would be advantageous to reduce the amount of shaking that is needed and to avoid or at least reduce incidences where resort to more strenuous operations becomes necessary.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.